Search form

You are here

Dominant arm forwards

Bruce lee fought in a southpaw stance despite being right handed, because he though due to the rapid and unpredictable nature of self defence you should have your strong arm at the front, where It can react the quickest. im thinking about impelenting this in my taekwondo and boxing.

Because taekwondo comps are point based, speed counts more than power, so it makes sense to have the faster leg in the closest position too. It would also mean that my rear leg roundhouse would be on the right side for a liver kick. However, im concerned that I might be allowing myself to move too far towards sports than self defence training

I was brought up training both sides equally, the advantage is that if you injure one side you can change to the other. But i often come across people who have problems with southpaws, it just mess them up. Which i like to take advantage of

What works well against one opponent might not work for the next.

I feel both sides should be trained equally, neither one being favored. Don't just rely on one aspect of your body, or one side. You want to try and train so both sides are close to equally strong and fast.

Eskrima emphasises a dominant-hand forward stance for striking. Judo tends to be the same for entering dominant-side throws. I don't know of any other arts that do this. I admit that I fight as a southpaw despite being right-handed. But then (I'm told) I also play* golf left handed. I don't know why this is.

Should we not be preaching that if you're right-handed you do twice as many repetitions from a left-handed stance as right-handed?

Eskrima emphasises a dominant-hand forward stance for striking. Judo tends to be the same for entering dominant-side throws. I don't know of any other arts that do this. I admit that I fight as a southpaw despite being right-handed. But then (I'm told) I also play* golf left handed. I don't know why this is.

Should we not be preaching that if you're right-handed you do twice as many repetitions from a left-handed stance as right-handed?

*using "play" in the loosest possible way.

Wrestlers tend to "lead" with their strong side as well. I fight orthidox despite being a lefty. Not out of any adheriance to Lee's thoughts, just my right was so weak I wanted to lead with my good hand.

How do you find that works with striking? I think the dominant hand forwards stance could work particulary well if you change the way you look at the jab, and use it as a long range explosive strike, rather than a quick probing strike, like jack depmsy advocates.

Seems to work for me. I put a lot of body behind a jab though, a stepping straight if you will. It's not that my right hand doesn't get involved or that I haven't put work into southpaw stance as well. It seems to provide a lot of dexterity for trapping and interfearing with guards and when I crash into someone it's great for helping clear the way and set an indexing point. Leads to a lot of switching hands and grips in close from the initial contact and grab with my left to gripping and trapping with my right. I wouldn't say that a strong side lead is better, but I have done it for so long that it's what I know best. Makes it easy to teach all the righties in the dojo. For some reason it scares the heck out of them when I switch up to southpaw.

i think for sparring when there is no grappling involved then it makes sense to have your dominant hand forward for the reason already stated. in boxing i guess it is a power thing set them up woth jab then put them down with a big pwerful rear hand.

for self protection yes we have to be fairly ambidextorous (sp?) but if you have a choice weak side forward to enter/grabb clothing etc. leaving the strong side to deliver blows. that is if you have the choice.

Interesting. I have been thinking about this more, and hopefully I will be better able to answer this question for myself in a couple of weeks when I have done some judo, but im really wondering how possible it is to throw people with the weak side.

In a self defense situation you should be using a fence to control that right arm passivly right from the start, so that wouldnt work in a southpaw stance for a start. Presuming you start at striking range your first priority needs to be stopping that big right hand, and again, much harder from a southpaw stance. Your next priority is to rain down hell on your opponent with your right hand, orthadox making that easier. The time when being right arm forwards helps is with throws. But you could easily switch stance if you take a step in, or out. What I mean is the traditional lunge punch where you step in and punch means you have switched stance, or if they close the distance and clinch you can just throw your lead leg back to partly absorb their forward momentum and to bring your right foot forwards. From here, throw, punch, stamp, escape.

It seems to me southpaws tend to be more technical. Anderson silva, Georgio petroysian, man there is a huge list. Being that technical isnt really as important in a real fight when the other guy isnt thinking tactically and is therefore harder to control / anticipate.

EDIT: forgot to mention kicks. If you get the room to kick you wont have that room for long. oblique kicks to the knee / roundhouse to the leg seem like the only safe choice to me, roundhouse to ribs if your feeling lucky (or stupid) but front leg kicks dont really have much of a role as I see it. Please correct me if im wrong, I just feel like with the limited amount of time spent in kicking range the best option is to deliver as much force to your opponents knee as possible. Its the only weak spot in easy reach (other than the groin) that could be a one strike fight stopper.

I've trained a number of times with Dave Hazard, he often uses kicks off his front leg usually front or side snap kicks (he says yoko geri keage is his favourite kick in real situations). Kicks are mostly aimed at the groin, knes or hip joint but I have seen him simply lift his foot when it was situated underneath the opponents groin and also just rake it down the shin. So, I think kicks off the front foot can be effective, perhaps not a total 'stopping' technique but they can give an advantage leading either to escape or a more disabling follow up